WASHINGTON, DC--The District of
Columbia Council is considering a measure that would keep schools in the
district from placing students with disabilities in facilities that use
aversive techniques -- such as electric skin shocks -- to change their
behaviors.

According to the Washington Examiner, the bill, which was introduced
Tuesday, is supported by all 13 council members.

While the legislation does not specifically name any facilities, it is
understood to refer to the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, in Canton,
Massachusetts, which is the only facility in the country that uses the painful
shocks on students, many of which come from out-of-state.

At one time, dozens of DC special education students were sent to JRC,
which charges more than $227,000 per child per year.

Attorney General Peter Nickles told the Examiner that the city is
"moving heaven and earth" to have the district's remaining four students
transferred back to DC.

The Rotenberg Center has been controversial for using the skin shocks,
along with food deprivation, skin pinches, and muscle squeezes, to change the
behavior of youths with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.